Civic Initiatives Research Articles

“The Principal Russian Church in America”: from the History of Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the City of New York

Based on previously unearthed documents from the Russia’s State Historical Archive and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire the article explores the history of the first Russian Orthodox parish in New York City and construction of Saint-Nickolas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the city. It was a protracted and complicated interagency process that involved Russian Orthodox mission in the United States, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and its missions in the United States, the Holy Governing Synod, Russia’s Ministry of Finance and the State Council. The principal actors were the bishops Nicholas (Ziorov) and especially Tikhon (Bellavin), Ober-Prosecutor of the Holy Governing Synod Konstantine Pobedonostsev and Reverend Alexander Khotovitsky. This case study of the Cathedral history reveals an interaction of ecclesiastical and civil authorities in which private and civic initiative was combined with strict bureaucratic rules and procedures.

Community Campus as Threshold: A Space of Dialogue for Academia and the Community

This paper explores an argument for community-situated spaces of encounter – acting as thresholds – between community and academia, through which: learning can be enhanced; a greater sense of identity and efficacy can be fostered, and a defined agency can be enabled. This proposition prioritises a dialogic relationship in a shared ground of agency and discourse, whose potential is reinforced through a rediscovery of the local arising from the COVID pandemic. The rediscovery of the local has pushed civic-minded universities pre-existing interrogation of their community-based learning practice in the context of marginalised communities; a key challenge is how to foster a dialogic relationship with a community when academia is not really part of the community? A concurrent question considers the spatiality of such practice? Proposed here is a situating of the civic university directly within the community offering opportunity for everyday dialogue on and experience of local life. This proposal re-sites the university’s civic initiatives outside the academy in community-based campuses. Central to this campus would be the coming together of the community and academia to envision and action joined-up approaches to multivalent issues. This initiative would simultaneously afford an innovative education while enabling students and staff to contribute to the wider community; at the same time the community campus would serve as an active agent in bringing the community together and reshaping its future. The community campus would act as a dialogic threshold between academia and the community, a space grounded in its social nature, mutual embrace and exchange.

Pedagogical and psychological opportunities for the development of social active civil competences in students

In this article, students develop approaches to active civic initiatives, nurture as a person of intellectual potential, develop socially active civic competence, approaches to the concept of citizenship, the concept of active citizenship, socially active civic education, the goal of active participation in society, political through the means of pedagogical and psychological influence on the development of a professional profession on the way to building a free democratic state, civil society by striving to participate in life, to have an active civil position.

Non-Western Model of Civil Society in the Middle Eastern Context: Promises and Discontents

The article analyzes the specific experience of civil society development in the Middle East, which remarkably exposes the dilemma underlying the civil society concept as a matrix of working democracy. This concept limits the understanding of the very phenomenon of civil society and peculiarities of its functioning in the region. An analysis of the Middle Eastern specifics requires a functional approach and a hybrid definition of civil society. This approach has a number of heuristic advantages over both liberal and critical theories. The article outlines the Middle Eastern model of civil society and postulates the key characteristic of illiberal civil society—it becomes conducive to the reproduction of authoritarian regimes even despite its institutional diversity. The analysis shows the ambivalence of civil society in the Middle East as a space of limited freedom of political/non-political activity and as a testing ground for the development of various tools designed to curb civic initiative. The liberal model of civil society, directly incorporated in state-building, is turned upside down in the Middle East. Civil society organizations in this region are hardly functional as an outpost for promoting liberal democratic values because they prove to serve the interests of the elite or alternative political forces much more than the interests of ordinary citizens.

Synergistic Formation of Harmonious Social and Uniform Economic Order

The pandemic has shown how quickly we can change our way of life. Environmental and climatic rapid environmental degradation also requires us to change our way of life. The author proposes to change the way of life in the direction of synergistic formation of a harmonious uniform socio-economic structure to ensure the integrity of man, society and Nature as proportional to the consistency of parts of the Universe. Synergy of development of all spheres of life of socio-economic structure improves harmony of social structure and uniformity of economic structure. Harmonious social and equitable economic order is the basis of synergy of socio-economic improvement. The synergy of culture, science and education improves the harmony of social order. Synergy between industry and service industry improves the balance of economic order. The social and civic initiative to improve the harmony of the social structure and the uniformity of the economic structure is the driving force of the harmonious uniform socio-economic structure of society. The young generation, through cultural education and education, accumulates the experience of harmonious life activities and is included through various spheres in the formation and improvement of a harmonious even socio-economic structure. Cultural education and communication contribute to the harmonization of individual and social life.

Общественные организации как акторы гражданского участия молодежи в местном самоуправлении

The article is about the civic participation of youth in the local self-government through the activities of youth organizations. The participation of young people in the life of public organizations is an important indicator of the socio-political activity of the population, contributes to the formation and development of civil and public self-awareness, the development of special competencies and personal qualities in young people. The purpose of the paper is to study the attitudes and experience of participation of the Russian youth in the local self-government through the activities of public organizations. The article analyzes the theoretical aspects of the activities of youth organizations, their classifications and typologies, studies the legal framework, official sites of youth organizations, and analyzes statistical data. To study the practice of youth participation in the activities of public organizations at the local level, the authors conducted a questionnaire survey of Russian youth aged 14-30 (n = 2026 people). As a result of survey of young people, it was found that young people in the younger age group (14-17 years old) much greater extent than young people in the older age group (26-30 years old) demonstrate involvement in the activities of public organizations, are informed about the activities of youth organizations, notes the benefits of their activities and is more actively ready to take part in their activities. In the course of the research, the best practices of public organizations in attracting youth to participate in the local self-government were studied, the directions of activity of youth public organizations and associations, the activities they implement, aimed at involving young people in socio-political processes at the municipal level, at stimulating civic initiatives and constructive forms of social activity of young people at the municipal level. In the conclusion of the article, the authors formulate proposals aimed at increasing the constructive civic engagement and involvement of young people in the activities of public organizations and participation in the local self-government.

Funkcjonowanie organizacji niekomercyjnych jako odzwierciedlenie procesu partycypacji społecznej obywateli w Kazachstanie (1991–2019)

The following article deals with the social participation of citizens of Kazakhstan, as well as the functioning of non-commercial organizations that are a manifestation of social activity in this country. The presented research is an attempt to systematize the issue of non-commercial organizations in Kazakhstan from the point of view of Polish science. The issue of the non-governmental sector is an extremely broad field of research, therefore basic legal acts, regulating these forms of social initiatives, have been examined. In addition, the third sector appears to be an important element in analysing the activities of post-Soviet countries, which are usually characterized by an authoritarian system of power, trying to maintain maximum control over civic initiatives. It turns out, they can function independently despite the difficulties. In the first part of the article, the author presents the legal framework that has been taken into account by the Kazakh legislator in relation to civil society and its associations, including primarily non-commercial ones, which constitute the important content of this article. Additionally, the operation, legal forms and areas covered by the activities of these organizations were analysed. The next part of the text is the evaluation of regulations that raise the issue of establishing associations, as well as the interpretation of other state concepts that provide for the development of civil society. In the last part, the author continues his reflection on the functioning of non-profit organizations in Kazakhstan, discussing forms of state support for this sector. The article ends with a summary of the whole topic and verification of the hypotheses set out in the introduction.

Соціально-психологічні чинники громадянської компетентності майбутніх педагогів: бажане і реальне

Актуальність представленого у статті дослідження зумовлена запитом суспільства на визначення та активізацію детермінант розвитку громадянської компетентності молоді.
 Метою дослідження було визначення ієрархії компетентностей, які зумовлюють готовність студентської молоді до партиципації і здобуття суспільних благ ціною обмеження власної вигоди або й відмови від неї, та встановлення їх відповідності критеріям компетентного громадянства.
 Методи дослідження. Дослідницький інструментарій (методика семантичного диференціала) розроблено на основі авторської моделі соціально-психологічних чинників розвитку громадянської компетентності, виокремлених показників та індикаторів ціннісних, ставленнєвих, когнітивних, мотиваційних детермінант.
 За результатами дослідження визначено структуру та ієрархію здатностей які зумовлюють готовність молоді до партиципації (здатності до рефлексії, до відповідальної участі, до соціальної взаємодії; тактичні і стратегічні здатності; здатності до аналізу та оцінювання ситуації, до визначення і дотримання меж). З’ясовано, що готовність молоді до партиципації виявляється в ситуаціях, які передбачають отримання певної вигоди з мінімальним ризиком програшу. Переважна більшість респондентів не готова долучатися до громадських ініціатив, спрямованих на промоцію чи обстоювання ідеї. Виявлено, що понад третину майбутніх педагогів ще не визначилися щодо цінності солідарності і меж дозволеного для громадян; мотивації і практик громадянської участі; досвіду досягнення і раціонального оцінювання інформації.
 Зроблено висновки: а) про зумовленість розвитку громадянської компетентності молоді дискурсом громадянства і громадянськими практиками, які продукуються соціальним середовищем (родинним, освітнім, медійним, економічним, політичним тощо); б) про невідповідність практик і пропозицій молодіжного дискурсу громадянськості критеріям компетентного громадянства.
 Практична значущість отриманих результатів вбачається у можливості застосування їх для коригування впливів соціального середовища на розвиток громадянських компетентностей майбутніх педагогів.

Political and Non-political Forms of Citizen Participation in Public Life in Russia

The article is devoted to the consideration of political and non-political component of public opinions expression in contemporary Russia. The authors highlight the most popular channels for expressing public opinion on pressing issues through existing public institutions. The participation of population in the existing civic and social practices is analyzed, and the potential for increasing civic and political involvement is revealed. The paper focuses on the reasons for the low level of citizen political participation in Russia, formulates potential ways to solve this problem, including usage of modern communication tools. The classification of the most popular sectors of civic participation is also presented. Based on the analysis of sociological data, the authors highlight the relationship between the complexity of public participation and the number of citizens involved in various forms of civic initiatives. The article presents the socio-political agenda of the protests of 2017-2018 in Russia as well as its reasons. A forecast for the development of the protest agenda in future is also given in the article. In conclusion there is a forecast for the further development of political and non-political citizen participation in public life of the country and solution of pressing problems such as socio-political, economic, environmental and other spheres of public life.

Elena Belokurova, Dmitry Vorobyev, Promotion of World Heritage Values: Experiences in St. Petersburg and Other Cities of Russia

The paper reflects the experiences of the social movements, civic initiatives and NGOs in St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia as well as in some other post-Soviet countries, aimed at the promotion and raising awareness of local populations about the World Heritage value in their cities. These efforts are needed, because the outstanding universal values of the historic centres of St. Petersburg and other cities are threatened by illegal construction, misguided urban planning, neglect and a lack of public attention; churches and cultural landscapes suffer from poor restoration, development pressure and an unregulated tourism boom. These effects are often possible because the almost most local population has no knowledge about the UNESCO World Heritage status and its implications. As a result, they are not sufficiently able to speak out for the protection of their site, and do not know how the status of world cultural heritage can help them. Moreover, the population has little understanding of both the cultural value for their own community and what it means to be a World Heritage in general, leading to an insufficient realization of the potentials in the status of world cultural heritage.

The Concept and Practice of Family Life Education

This theorethical article outlines the development of family life education in Hungary. In the early 20th century, as a result of civic initiatives, this specific educational area as an independent professional and scientific field was organized in the United States and Western Europe. In Hungary, however, much like other Central and Eastern European states, institutional education became available much later. A government decree issued in the early seventies draws attention to the fact that "the biological, health, ethical, moral knowledge necessary for harmonious, desirable human relations is not sufficiently widespread among the general public, especially among young people, to create a well-balanced family life and to achieve a broad range of modern family planning. Therefore, measures should be taken to prepare for family life in all forms of public education and in the dissemination of information to the general public” (Mihalec et al 2011, 90) Komlósi points out, however, that despite the first governmental initiative on family life education, for decades there has been no significant change in practice. (Komlósi 1995) ” In Hungarian secondary education, the pedagogical knowledge that can be chosen as subject matter for graduation examinations in pedagogical vocational secondary schools includes a growing proportion of topics related to education for family life.

Ukrainian Theme in the Documents of Czech Civic Initiatives During the Second Half of the 1980s.

The authors analyzed the presence and content of Ukrainian theme in the documents of Czech civic initiatives during the second half of the 1980s. The development of citizens initiatives has become a catalyst of socio-political life in Czechoslovakia. The number of participants in civic initiatives increased, and their programs were politicized. In program statements the principle of the so-called leading role of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was rejected as inconsistent with the principle of equality of citizens and the code of civil and political rights. The source base of this research comprised documents and materials of human rights activists, first presented in the self-published (samizdat) bulletins of independent Czech civic initiatives: “Information on Charter 77” (“Informace o Chartĕ 77”), “The Case of the East European News Agency” (“Zprava vychodoevropske informačni agentury”) and “Bulletin of Independent Peace Commonwealth – Initiative for demilitarization of society” (“Bulletin nezavisleho miroveho sdruženi – Iniciativy za demilitarizaci společnosti”). It has been shown that the Ukrainian theme is presented in two documents of the human rights association of Charter 77: the document “Before the Chernobyl Accident” (May 6, 1986) and the telegram of Czechoslovak human rights activists to Lviv, addressed to the group “Dovira” (“Trust”) (April 22, 1989). Czech “Independent Peace Commonwealth – Initiative for demilitarization of society” and Ukrainian, Lviv, “Dovira” Group, exchanged a letter and a telegram of solidarity. The informational reasons for creating the documents were the Chernobyl disaster – man-made accident on a global scale and the brutal dispersal of a peaceful demonstration in Lviv. Documents of Czech human rights activists and pacifist activists focus public attention on late Soviet realities: concealment of information from society about radioactive contamination and another human rights violation in Soviet Ukraine

Remarks on Civic Legislative Initiative in Poland

The article presents citizens’ legislative initiative at the local level in Poland as a form of social participation. Poland is currently seeing a growing interest in public affairs on the part of citizens, which is especially noticeable at the local level. In the article, particular attention is paid to the importance of local self-government, which is the key element of a democratic state that provides its citizens with an opportunity to participate in exercising public power. The structures of Polish local administration are one of the fundamental manifestations effects of decentralization of public administration. It is through these structures that the citizens’ right to take socially important actions related to the satisfying of public needs stemming from living in the given territory is exercised. Citizens’ legislative initiative at the local level allows the members of local communities to submit a draft of a resolution to the local legislative body. The establishment of the legislative initiative of the members of the local communities in generally applicable legal regulations was a positive move, as it has created an opportunity to promote citizens’ local legislative initiative as an instrument allowing citizens to have actual influence over the functioning of local communities.

Transnational Activism for Global Crises: Resources Matter! Transnational Solidarity Organisations in Comparative Perspective

In recent years, the global financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures in European countries have resulted in dire cuts to public services, massive job losses, and diminished incomes. At the same time, and parallel to the economic crisis, a refugee crisis has arisen. In this context, ordinary citizens and new or re-energised networks of cooperation among civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), churches, trade unions, cooperatives, grassroots initiatives) foster (transnational) solidarity practices. These practices grow in importance as they try to address people’s needs, often unmet by national governments given their lack of financial resources. This article investigates whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities. Moreover, it seeks to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational activities. The article critically analyses the initiatives and practices of Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) in eight European countries on the basis of data on transnationally oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment, and assistance to refugees). The analysis aims to contribute, through fresh empirical data, to the scholarly discussion in the field of transnational solidarity mobilisation and organisations by pointing out that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level(s) and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. Transnational activities are associated with formalisation and professionalisation. Moreover, maintaining a web of transnational partners, being able to communicate with such partners, and conventional action repertoires seem to be conducive to transnational activism. Organisational values linked to cosmopolitanism are also important, but their impact on transnational solidarity actions is mediated and conditioned by the TSOs’ level of formalisation.

Urban Arrival Infrastructures between Political and Humanitarian Support: The ‘Refugee Welcome’ Mo(ve)ment Revisited

<p>Maximilian Park in Brussels was the site of a makeshift refugee camp for three months in 2015 when the institutional reception system was unable to provide shelter for newly arriving asylum seekers. Local volunteers stepped in, formed a civic initiative and organized a reception area under the banner ‘Refugees Welcome!’ The civic platform which emerged claimed and asserted (existing) rights for one specific group, asylum seekers, exclusively, and thus did not challenge the exclusive migration regime nor demand transformation. While such a humanitarian approach risks reproducing the exclusive border regime and the inequalities it engenders, political<em> </em>support is a disturbing rupture in the name of equality that resists normative classifications and inaugurates transformation. This article maps out the complex dialectical interrelation between political and humanitarian support and argues that political implications can only be understood through longer-term research, emphasizing processes of transformation that have resulted from these moments of disruption. Therefore, the article revisits Maximilian Park two and four years after the camp and reveals how the humanitarian approach chosen in the camp sustainably transformed the park, adding arrival infrastructures beyond the institutional, and had an impact on how refugees were dealt with and represented. Concluding, the article suggests the notion of ‘solidary humanitarianism’ that providing supplies, meeting acute existential needs and simultaneously articulating political claims that demand structural transformation: the right to shelter, basic supply, presence, and movement for all in the city.</p>

Российская молодежь и ее роль в трансформации общества

В статье анализируются причины актуализации в молодежной среде запроса на перемены, роста ее гражданской активности. Среди них, по мнению автора, помимо экономических и социальных факторов, связанных со сложностями кризисной адаптации, существенную роль играют наметившиеся расхождения между значительной частью современной молодежи и властными элитами в отношении представлений о желаемом будущем России, тех целей, к которым она должна стремиться в ХХI веке. Опираясь на результаты мониторинговых исследований Института социологии ФНИСЦ РАН, автор отмечает, что современная молодежь желаемый образ страны связывает прежде всего с реализацией идей и принципов социальной справедливости и демократии, которые за последние четыре года в молодежной среде приобрели много новых сторонников, особенно в самой младшей возрастной группе (18-24 года). Выросло и число молодых россиян, высказывающихся за прекращение жесткой конфронтации с Западом. И, напротив, идея «возвращения России к национальным традициям, моральным и религиозным ценностям, проверенным временем», сегодня заметно менее популярна в молодежной среде, чем в 2014 г. В целом же можно констатировать, что понимание молодежью ключевых целей общественного развития формируется под влиянием современных реалий, а не воспоминаний о прекрасном, или, напротив, ужасном прошлом. И в этой ситуации молодежь становится общественной стратой, не только заинтересованной в социальных изменениях, но имеющей альтернативный взгляд на приоритеты будущего развития страны. В то же время, становясь актором запроса на перемены, нынешнее поколение молодежи пока не готово выступать самостоятельным актором политического действия. Прежде всего в силу того, что оно, как и общество в целом, весьма дифференцировано и не обладает необходимой институциональной субъектностью. Тем не менее, не претендуя на лидерские позиции в общественных преобразованиях, молодежь способна стать частью коалиции общественных сил, социальных и политических движений, нацеленных на перемены, ее политически активная часть уже сейчас готова конкурировать с традиционными партиями в части электоральной и шире — политической мобилизации. В рамках же разнообразных гражданских инициатив она способна привлекать внимание общества к новым темам, новым участкам социальных конфликтов, которые мало заботят как государство, так и ключевых политических игроков. Но что представляется наиболее существенным, современная молодежь может задавать не только идейно-политические, но и моральные ориентиры, возвращая в общественный обиход на фоне тотальной «гибридности» и релятивизма понятия нормы — в праве, человеческих взаимоотношениях, морали и т.п., что сегодня является не менее фундаментальной задачей, чем борьба с бедностью, коррупцией, деградацией социальной сферы. Благодарность. Статья подготовлена при поддержке РФФИ, проект «Социальная трансформация российского общества: акторы запроса на перемены» № 19 011 00277.

SOCIAL CAPITAL OF THE ALTAI TERRITORY: HOW TRUST DETERMINES SECURITY

The scientific significance of studying security problems in regional societies is determined by the need to reveal its actual components. Such complex indicator as social capital includes basic indicators of the functioning of civil society: social responsibility, activity, civic initiative, etc. The social capital formed in society induces generalized trust. At the same time, institutional trust contributes to the legitimization of legal and political institutions. The purpose of this article is to describe the social mechanism of interdependence of components of social capital and generalized trust that form a sense of security in the region. The article summarizes expert assessments that indicate heterogeneity of institutional systems, which are indicators of low coherence of the social order and form a low level of trust and, consequently, security in the Altai territory. It is concluded that for modern Russian society, as well as for its regions, the problem of regenerating generalized trust as a social background for optimizing post-industrial transformations is extremely significant. Stability of the active role of social institutions, the reproduction of spiritual values, such as the common good, inter-ethnic tolerance, social justice are among most important factors restoring social trust.

Communication between the community and local government – Case the Municipality of Pristina

In recent years, the development of local government in the most developed countries has been oriented toward creating a new kind of partnership with the community, giving to the community an important role in policymaking and decision-making, something that is recommended by the European Charter of Local Government. Communication between the local government and the community through different communication channels/means, also in Kosovo, is an important alert or signal that the community to become an important part of public policies, although the participation of the communities in public meetings is still low, and the data derived from relevant local and international studies, also this study as well proves that the participation of the communities in drafting and developing the policies is very low. By seeing the role and importance of communication in the dialogue, cooperation, promotion and empowerment of an active community in local decision making, the goal and aim of this paper is to analyze the forms/ways of communication between the community and local government in the Pristina region, respectively in 5 municipalities: Pristina, Fushë Kosovë, Obiliq, Gllogoc dhe Gracanica, then the sources of information through which ones the community is being informed about various public meetings, also another aim is to make comparisons between the above-mentioned municipalities regarding the use of local mechanisms in decision-making. The methodology used in this paper has focused on the analysis of various studies and reports on local government and community, as well as on quantitative research to measure community opinion in the municipalities of the Pristina region. The overall results of this paper emphasize that the community is mainly informed by the local government through social networks, the municipality's website, local TV, the announcement board in municipalities, and other sources. Whereas, the local decision-making mechanisms used so far by the community are: petitions, civic initiatives, consultative committees, public meetings, but no initiatives to remove/step out mayors, although in principle some communities in some municipalities are not satisfied with their work.

Therapeutic forgetting, agonistic remembrance: Conflicting memories of Izmir’s Kültürpark and contested narratives in contemporary Turkey

This article proposes to read the history of Izmir’s Kültürpark as symptomatic of Turkey’s troubled relationship with its political past and urban heritage. Combining insights from political theory, urban and architectural history, and memory studies for a transdisciplinary analysis, it problematizes the oblivion surrounding Kültürpark and explores the ways in which this collective amnesia is questioned by contemporary artists and civic initiatives. First, we examine how Kültürpark rose on a foundation of forgetting of the uprooting of Izmir’s non-Muslim communities from their homeland and the disappearance of their cultural traces from collective memory. Second, we explore how contemporary artistic and civic interventions that engage with the themes of remembrance and coming to terms with the past contest highly selective memory constructs. Third, we raise the question of whether the agonistic debates on the national narratives about the past might open up a new memoryscape and signal a relatively late ‘memory turn’ in Turkey. Finally, we argue that these artistic and civic interventions might shed new light on the theoretical disputes in memory studies, in particular on the debates about cosmopolitan and agonistic modes of remembering. More specifically, we suggest that the recent memory turn Turkey has been experiencing demonstrates that these two modes of remembering are not mutually exclusive.

Goteo.org civic crowdfunding and match-funding data connecting Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight priority areas for global sustainable development, such as reducing inequalities and protecting the environment. Digital platforms, such as Goteo.org, facilitate financial support from individuals for SDG-related initiatives through crowdfunding and match-funding campaigns. Match-funding is a type of crowdfunding, where individual donations are matched or multiplied by public and private organizations. There remains a lack of open data, however, to study the effectiveness of match-funding as a way to finance these civic initiatives. The Goteo.org platform’s approach to data transparency and open source principles have allowed these data to be collected, and here we present a dataset for 487 civic crowdfunding campaigns. This dataset presents a unique opportunity to compare the behaviour of different crowdfunding modalities in parallel with the SDGs.